yes man you would definitely live in Belarus, nice country with dictatorship and minimum wage of 300 dollars a month, also the price for goods equivalent to Europe and USA.
its good to visit and enjoy its beauty than live in it….

Ummm, hate to break it to you, but take a look at the right bottom corner of picture 19. I do believe that says Coca-cola… I don’t see how that’s such a horrible thing though, its just soda…regardless, beautiful pictures…

They’re all there, my wife has a friend in Gomel who is gay, beggers and drunks are not seen so much in the main public areas as in the residential areas it seems. Homelessness is not a problem and there are a lot of people who take advantage of the system they don’t work ect and have a place to live basics provided for them. Most beggers I have seen hang around the public parks. You will see invalids on the trains, deaf people mostly selling books of word games and old magazines. I always buy a couple from them. I have never seen criminals, I hear their lot is bad. N ot undeserved either IMO.

The russian and belorussian languages differ but not so much. People in these countries are similar. I’ve been to Belarus, and everytime i was talking to locals and i could not understand who was before me: russian or belorussian. Maybe it because of that everybody there is speaking russian good.

I just LOVE Russians always shouting that Belorussians, Ukrainians and Russians are the SAME. They just don’t get that there is an actual difference even though our nations have the same roots. But we took different ways a long time ago – the thing which you can’t understand. You always think that we have the same mentality, the same traditions, even some Russians think that for example Ukrainian language was “invented” after the collapse of the USSR. This is incredible, I heard it myself. Anyway, what I’m trying to say, that Ukrainians are not Russians and we are fed up of hearing that we’re your little brothers etc and I hope that Ukraine and Russia will never unite again. We have already 70 years of horrible experience being in the USSR. That’ more than enough. But what make’s me laugh is when I say that I love my country, Russians tell me that I’m a nationalist, when a Russian says that he loves his country – he’s a patriot. Unfortunately (for you), that will never change in your minds.

Well when you get right down to it, Canadians and Americans are pretty much the same, just as Argentinians and Brazilians are similar, the same way Spaniards and Portuguese are the same.

Of course they’re not the EXACT SAME people, but they are similar. Belorussians are more similar to Russians than they are Americans or Portuguese, so it’s not completely offensive to say that they are the same kind of people, because they are. Not completely, but still very similar in relation to the rest of the world.

There is no need for anger over this subject. Nobody was talking about governments and politics, so there is no need to bring it up to fight over it. Everyone is a patriotic for their own country; this is the internet though, there is no need to bring it up constantly.

Why can’t everyone just sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful pictures of Belarus? Why ruin it with arguments…

Well, people from all this countries…I understand that the time under the rule of USSR was traumatic for all of you. But above all, we are all Human beings. The differences that we create, that we invent, is what tear us apart. And Kill. Live apart, but live in peace.

Man!there is one thing in common between almost all cities of “eastern front” heroic struggle against Nazi advance.i am sure,because of Soviet/Russian sacrifices,this world is saved from Nazi rule.we salute all Hero cities of CCCP.Can U ASS give us any example of his “hero city”?????????????

The title was awarded to the cities of former USSR subjected to the harshest attacks or those resisting for the longest period of time etc., not automatically to the capitals.
Other examples are e.g. Leningrad or Sevastopol.

We love Russian style “democracy” .don`t compare East side of Europe with so called”constitutional monarchies” of some most democratic countries.yes we can learn some principals and the soul of the true peoples desires but not empty words or copying another alien “democratic” traditions! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !.Putin is more democratic leader rather than U ASS`s Bush! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I will choose “less evil” .Putin was elected two times president of Russia and “3rd” time PM.one can`t point towards Putin`s believe on “democratic values”.we hate “imported” democratic system from “head of evil states” ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !.don`t teach and preach us.

Yes, and you, don’t do the same. And learn your constitution, prime ministers are not elected in Russia. And I wouldn’t say that Putin is the lesser evil, he is at least twice as corrupt as George Bush, and don’t forget he is a former Gestapo – oops, I mean KGB officer, but that is the same anyway.

Yes! ! ! !i do aware of Honorable dear Prime minister`s past “assignment” in former “East GermanCCP”.he(Putin)always done his job very well.like in chechen insurgency and he used his best efforts to re structure the almost collapsed and default economy.he is the “hero of Russian nation”.election or selection is not the problem of Russian peoples.U ASS always try to stop his challenger from the collapse of CCCP,but time is so changed.but yellow nation will soon able to do some”amazing stunts”in near future.under the guidance of great Russian nation! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !.

And Truman was Ku-Klux-Klan.
Which is no excuse for Putin being a man dangerous to children and other living creatures.
Wait a minute, this is a quotation – I think it originally goes “War is dangerous to children and other living creatures”. I wonder where it comes from?

There was nothing to choose from so many did not even bother to vote.
And like in soviet times, people were tricked into voting stations with free food and drinks. So it would look like many were voting. Like a democracy.

So why do 18 year old boys have to be chased on the streets by army recruiters – well, they do not want to be a part of the ‘effective’ Russian army, which in reality means digging ditches, building datcha’s for their commanders and doing other meaningless things for two years. Firing a gun is hardly practised, as hard to believe as it might be.
In Georgia the officers even had to use their private cell phones to report to the base camps because the communications infrastructure is outdated at least 20 years.

The Russian army is not up to modern warfare and needs enormous financial injections. So save the rhetorics for your next Nashi meeting.

Just curious, is it legally punishable in Belarus (or in Russia) if somebody throw a trash on the street (like in Singapore)? Otherwise, this city is unreasonably clean like the capital of North Korea, I guess. However, I would love to visit there! 🙂

No, it’s not punishable. And it is really incorrect to compare Belarus and North Korea. Belarus is certainly an authoritarian state, but not a dictatorship, if you compare it to Zimbabwe, North Korea, Myanmar etc. Just because it is really a European state with long and complicated European history. And people recognize themselves as Europeans, not like in Russia…